Published in the Canon Of European Drama series for Edizioni ETS, European Cultural Identity. Law, History, Theatre And Art (2018) is an ambitious book edited by Enzo Balboni, Professor of Constitutional Law, and Annamaria Cascetta, Professor of History of Theatre, both at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, Italy.

Proceedings of the international conferences held on May 11 and 12, 2017, European Cultural Identity is a long and complete journey into the European identity between law and performing arts, showing how connected these two aspects are in order to understand and reflect upon the past, the present, and future of Europe.

Politics influences arts, and arts, at the same time, influences politics, in a way or in another. And this connection is clear in the progression of the articles. In this way, the legal, juridical, political, and economic foundations and aspects of Europe–that characterized the first part of the book–penetrate into essays and articles focused on art and theatre.

Many are the topics considered by the different authors, for example: the origins of the tragic and, implicitly, of the European identity in the Greek experience (Giulio Guidorizzi); the circulation of actors in Europe under the Ancient Regime (Siro Ferrone); the art of political theatre with a focus on Dario Fo (Anna Barsotti and Eva Marinai); social theatre between identity and difference (Giulia Innocenti Malini); the Canon of European drama (Roberta Carpani) and Opera (Filippo Annunziata); the recent experience of the Rimini Protokoll (Arianna Frattali).

In conclusion, European Cultural Identity is an important reflection on the current situation of performing arts and arts in Europe that results precious and useful both for theatre scholars and for scholars of other disciplines, such as Law, Economics, and Political Science.

This post was written by the author in their personal capacity.The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of The Theatre Times, their staff or collaborators.